1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal fitting.
2. Description of the Related Art
A terminal fitting disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. H02-38675 includes a connecting portion (electrical contact portion) in the form of a rectangular tube into which a mating male terminal is insertable. This connecting portion is immersed in a plating solution in a plating bath and the plating solution is injected from an injection nozzle to flow through the connecting portion with a tip opening of the connecting portion faced toward the injection nozzle in the plating bath, whereby a plating film is formed on the inner surface of the connecting portion. In this case, the connecting portion includes contact portions to be connected electrically to the male terminal on a pair of wall sides facing each other. According to the above configuration, it is possible to form thicker plating films on necessary parts including the contact portions than on other parts.
The contact portions of the above-described conventional terminal fitting are provided only on parts of the inner surface of the connecting portion in a circumferential direction (pair of wall sides facing each other). On the other hand, according to the above configuration, the plating film is formed on the inner surface of the connecting portion over the entire circumference and the thick plating layer formed on parts other than the necessary parts such as the contact portions is useless. Contrary to this, thick plating films can be formed only on the necessary parts by masking parts the inner surface of the connecting portion in the circumferential direction. However, since the parts of the inner surface of the connecting portion in the circumferential direction are masked, there have been problems of difficult plating and lacking reality.
The present invention was completed based on the above situation and aims to provide a terminal fitting in which thick plating films can be formed on necessary parts without requiring particularly complicated plating.